


Seeing is Believing

by keepingmagicalsecrets



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Alternate Universe, M/M, ghost!stiles, sterek
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2013-03-03
Updated: 2013-03-31
Packaged: 2017-12-04 05:51:29
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 4,720
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/707263
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/keepingmagicalsecrets/pseuds/keepingmagicalsecrets
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>"Ever feel like you're being watched?"</p><p>A common phrase whispered by students at Beacon Hills High, little did they know it wasn’t just their imagination.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Can you see me?

It’s rare for Stiles to think about what his life was like before he became invisible. 

In the first few years it had been all he had thought about, it had made some days tolerable and others impossible. How do you live a life when everything reminds you of everything you’ve lost but also of memories that put a smile on your face? 

Now though, he tried not to let the memories slip through. He told himself he had always been this way, that he’d always walked the halls of Beacon Hills High school and had never touched another. After all you can’t miss what you can’t remember.

However on those rare days when he’s alone in the school, when there’s nothing but the sound of the wind hitting the windows, he closes his eyes and lets the memories take over. He lets himself remember what he can about his final night.

Stiles remembers his Father getting a phone call in the early hours of the morning when he’d been working on some homework. He heard mentions of a fire and that many were presumed dead.

Next thing he knew Mrs McCall was dropping Scott of at his door, saying she had to get to the hospital and their babysitter was out of town. Stiles had stared down at the eleven year old and told him to watch the TV whilst he popped out for a minute.

Then there had been trees, lots of them, and a bright light ahead that looked very much like a fire. Now it wasn’t unknown to every person in town that Stiles was a curious soul, he was often found stalking his Father into crime scenes, however today was different.

He watched from behind a tree as the house burnt to the ground, a memory now forever etched into his mind, one that even when he pushed the rest of his memories aside still haunted him. To this day he couldn’t go near fire.

_“Stiles.”_

A small boy stared back at him when he turned around and Stiles felt his heart sink at the thought of Scott following him. This was no place for a child. It hadn’t taken long for him to grab the boy’s hand and drag him back through the forest, telling him he was a fool for not staying home.

_“My, my, what do we have here?”_

Stiles returned back to the present day, his eyes closing as he tried to forget the woman’s voice. He could never remember what had happened after that. How he had wound up stuck in this school and invisible to everyone. All he knew was that there was no way back and he might as well get used to the idea that he would always be alone.

So he spent his weekdays watching the students come and go as they pleased, none of them knowing how lucky they had it. Most of them complained about their parents restricting them, keeping them at home whilst parties filled the night hours, how their lives were over because they missed the latest gossip whilst it was happening.

They had no idea what it was like to have that ripped away from you. What he wouldn’t give for his Father to ground him once again.

It wasn’t long until Scott McCall joined the students he watched every day and Stiles watched the boy he used to babysit become the same age he was forever stuck as. He made friends with a few others, people Stiles didn’t bother to learn the names of since they’d be gone in the blink of an eye, but at least Scott wasn’t alone.

It made him wonder whether a day like that would ever come for him.

* * *

 “Dear Diary, today a student fell over and everybody laughed. It made front-page news and the town was in shock that such a thing could happen. Soon chaos broke out and Beacon Hills became the town everyone forgot. However I’m still here and not a single soul can see me. Nothing else to report.”

Stiles muttered one of his daily reports to the empty hallway and ran his fingertips along the lockers, it wasn’t too long ago he would have done anything to feel the contact, now he just ignored the disappointment.

“We’re going to be so late!”

Looking over his shoulder, Stiles smirked as two students appeared from around a corner and began rushing towards him. “Race you,” he yelled and joined in. Running as fast as he could he darted into one of the classrooms and threw his arms into the air as the other two followed, both of them out of breath as they apologised to the teacher.

“Serves you right for racing a ghost! No one can beat me because-“

“McCall, keep your eyes on the paper please, no cheating.”

Stiles grumbled at being interrupted and turned on the spot to look at the boy who wasn’t paying attention to his paper. Instead two large eyes stared straight back at him with what looked like shock. “What on earth are you staring at?” He questioned as he glanced over his shoulder to look for the source of the boy’s surprise.

“There’s nothing …” his words drifted off as he took a step to the side and Scott’s eyes followed. He took another and the same thing happened again. The more he moved around the more Scott looked like he had seen, well, a ghost. His skin was beginning to pale, the grip on his pen was slackening and every time Stiles made a move forward Scott inched back in his seat as if he was moving away.

“Can-" 

Scott jumped to his feet, which caused his chair to crash to the ground, his eyes never leaving Stiles as he moved around the desks to get out of the classroom, always making sure there was plenty of distance between them. “McCall, where do you think you’re going?!”

The teacher’s words barely registered Stiles as he chased after Scott and into the hallway, his heart beating quickly in his chest as he searched for any sign of Scott. When he saw him standing at the other end of the hallway, Stiles slowed his footsteps and asked, “Can you see me?”

Scott shook his head and fell back against the main doors to the building as he muttered, “You’re not real.” Before Stiles could stop him the doors were swinging shut with a bang and leaving him alone whilst everyone else got on with their lives.

Now if you asked Stiles how he was feeling right now, you’d expect him to reply with words such as excited, happy, thrilled etc. However he had never felt so alone as he did right now. He had no control over Scott, couldn’t influence the boy to come back, so how was he meant to carry on being invisible with an accepting attitude when there was the possibility he might actually be able to talk to someone.

“Please, come back.”

* * *

_“Do you think he’s aware about what’s going on?”_

_“How could he?”_

_“Shouldn’t we just get rid of him?”_

* * *

 There were moments in the day when Stiles wouldn’t be walking the halls of Beacon Hills High School, he knew this because he would look at the clock on the wall and realise hours had suddenly gone without him noticing. He didn’t know where he went, what he did, or what he saw. All he knew was that the lengths of time when he was gone, actually gone, were shortening.

So when he looked at the clock to see that it was ten in the morning, Stiles leapt off the table in the empty classroom he had stayed on for the night and ran into the hallway. Cursing at the fact he had missed all the students coming in.

Scott McCall had been out of school all week, every classroom had been checked during every hour and Stiles had yet to find him. He wasn’t giving up though. Scott had to turn up at some point and if he had been faking illness at home to get off school, his Mother would have forced him back in this week for the tests all the parents knew were taking place.

It took him half an hour but he finally found Scott in History, he was looking out the window that overlooked the lacrosse field and didn’t seem to be paying the slightest bit of attention to the teacher. Then again, who would? She was dull and clearly didn’t care about the subject; Stiles had first hand experience when it came to being taught by her.

Anyway, that’s off the point. Stiles was here to confront Scott and find out whether last week had been a fluke. Going through the closed door with ease, something that had once freaked him out, he walked down the isle of desks and stood in front of Scott’s. Who had yet to notice him, typical right?

“So, I’m just going to get to the point-“ Stiles started and Scott jolted back in his seat as he turned to look at him with wide eyes “-I think you can see me. Like _actually_ see me, which you couldn’t do until last week, which gets me thinking either something’s happening to me or something has happened to you.”

Scott’s mouth fell open in shock as he clutched at the desk in front of him and Stiles ignored the fact that the whole class was probably staring at the boy in front of him. “So I’m thinking that we need to talk, find out what’s happening and whether this is just a you and me kind of thing or if other people can see me too.”

“McCall, everything okay?” The teacher asked and Stiles glanced over his shoulder to see her a mere step away.

“He’s busy, can’t you see that?” Stiles remarked and even though he got no reaction from the teacher, Scott let out a small laugh that he covered up with a cough. “Ah ha! You can see me!” 

“How?”

“I don’t know how but this is fantastic! Do you know how annoying it is not to talk to anybody? The jokes I’ve told that have gone unheard? I mean you’d think by now I would have gone crazy but instead I’m just incredibly bored. I can’t even play pranks on people because I can’t touch anything. Useless right?”

“Scott, do you need to see a nurse? You’re looking awfully pale.”

“Yes! Go to the nurse! Then we can sneak away and chat, catch up on everything I’ve missed. How’s my Dad? Is he eating his vegetables? I want-“

“I think I will go to the nurse, thanks miss.” Scott gathered his things and brushed past the teacher, not looking back at Stiles until they were in the corridor. “Are you actually here? My Mum is always talking about people going mental and hallucinating things, what if that’s happening to me? You’re probably not real.”

“Excuse me, I’m most definitely real.”

“You can’t be! You’re dead!”

Stiles comes to a stop and Scott slowly does the same when he realizes his own personal ghost isn’t following him anymore. He can’t believe it. He’s dead? Yes, he realized he was a ghost, that wasn’t difficult for him to figure out, but he had always thought it was due to some supernatural occurrence or something. He had never let himself think the possibility that he was dead. That was something you couldn’t come back from.

“I’m dead?” He quietly asked as he looked down at his feet.

“Well, after your body wasn’t found and they couldn’t find you, they pronounced you dead. There was a service and everything. Are you not dead?”

So they had never found his body and his Father had never had closure. There wasn’t a single doubt in his mind that the Sheriff wasn’t still looking for Stiles, that until his Son was lying dead on a slab in front of him, he wouldn’t believe Stiles was really gone.

“How’s my Dad?” Stiles replied as he met Scott’s concerned gaze.

“He works long hours and is barely seen out of the office, but my Mum takes him casseroles and we pop in now and then to make sure he’s okay. He misses you.”

The thought of his Dad alone in their home, something he hadn’t let himself think about in a long time, made his heart sink. It was one thing for him to be alone, but for his Dad who had already lost his wife, it was too much. 

“You’re disappearing …” Scott commented but before another word was uttered Stiles was gone from sight. 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you to my amazing beta fatal-mystique who has supported me through this!
> 
> My inspiration came from my gifset series Ghost!Stiles on tumblr which you can find at keepingmagicalsecrets.
> 
> I hope you've enjoyed the first chapter and there will be many more to come if people want them too!


	2. I Think He Can See Me

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Turns out Scott isn't the only one who can see Stiles and it's not just ghosts that are real.
> 
> "Why are you two here?"
> 
> "I think he can see me."

“So you’ve never stepped foot outside the school?” Scott asked as they stared at the two blue doors ahead of them. Stiles shook his head and decided it was better not to let the boy know that every time he had even considered leaving his entire body had flooded with pain so intense that it often left him lying on the ground for hours.

However right now, as he stood beside Scott, there was no pain, nothing that made him want to curl into a ball and wish he was actually dead. “You alright? We don’t have to leave if you don’t want too.”

Scott had spent the past few hours writing notes to Stiles whilst in class about how he had been in the woods last week looking for his inhaler that he’d somehow managed to drop on a previous walk and had managed to lose track of time. Before he knew it darkness had fallen and he couldn’t find the way out of the forest to get back home.

It wasn’t until a large animal had attacked him that he had run onto a road that lead him away, this wasn't before the creature had managed to take a large chunk out of his side though and the very next day Scott had been able to see Stiles. Which was why they had decided it was a good idea to go out into the woods and see if there were any clues as to what had attacked Scott.

So here they were, about to step outside the school and Stiles honestly hadn’t felt this nervous in a long time. What if he bumped into his Dad when they were out walking? What if they didn’t find anything and Scott would be the only person ever to see him? What if he couldn’t actually leave and the pain would hit him when those doors opened?

“Coming?” Scott asked as he pushed open the doors and Stiles took a deep breath as he stepped forward into the sunlight.

* * *

“You’ve been gone a little over six years you know,” Scott mutters as they enter the forest tree line and Stiles crosses his arms over his chest as he blocks out the memories. He’d rather spend his time thinking about why he could suddenly leave the school. “I remember for weeks after you disappeared all people did was question me. Why was I out in the woods, why weren’t you with me, what had happened, and all I could say was the last thing I remember was chasing after you into the forest …” 

_“I won’t let you hurt him.”_

_“Oh honey, he’s not the one we care about.”_

“That makes two of us,” Stiles commented and didn’t know whether it to be the truth or a lie. He remembers voices, flashes of images, the feeling of fear overwhelming him as a bright light comes towards him … but like he said, he doesn’t remember everything. He doesn’t remember who it was that stopped him from taking Scott home that night or how he came to be this way. 

“So you’ve been in the school, all this time?”

He nods in response and doesn’t understand why he isn’t speaking to Scott, especially after being alone for so long. There had been times when he’d talked to Scott non-stop, before he had been seen, about the most basic of things. Right now his mind was drawing a blank. What do you say to someone after only having yourself for company for six years?

“You know there was this rumour going around the school that the place was haunted, I guess now we know that it’s true.” Scott attempted to nudge him with his elbow except it went straight through Stiles and they both stopped as the young boy stared at Stiles with wide eyes. “I can’t touch you.” 

“That’s kind of the deal when you’re a ghost,” he commented.

“No, I get that but … I thought with being able to see you that I’d be able to touch you as well,” Scott seemed puzzled at the thought of a ghost not being able to be touched and Stiles left him to his thoughts, taking the lead in their trek. “How did you deal with all of this Stiles? Not being seen, touched, talked too … it would drive most people insane.”

“Who-“

“Why are you two here?” A voice interrupted Stiles and he turned to find an older man staring at them with. Stiles didn’t even acknowledge the fact he’d mentioned the both of them until the stranger stared directly at him. “Why. Are. You. Two. Here?” The words seemed to be forced and he was clearly getting irritated of getting no response.

Running his hand over his head, Stiles turned his head to the side a little and hissed, “I think he can see me.”

“Can hear you too.” 

“Maybe we should go,” Scott muttered. 

“This is private property, you shouldn’t even be here in the first place. Now leave,” the man ordered and began to walk away. Scott seemed to have the same idea as he started heading in the other direction.

“Where are you going?” Stiles asked as he jogged to catch up with Scott.

“I’m doing what the big, scary man says. I still have school to get back to and if my Mom finds out I came back out here she’d kill me.” Scott kept walking with his gaze directed at the ground, clearly realizing that talking about being dead wasn’t the best topic when talking to a ghost.

Stiles glanced over his shoulder at the retreating form and made a decision, “I’m going to follow him. Maybe he can tell me how you both can see me.”

“Just be careful Stiles, we don’t know who he is.”

“What’s the worst that could happen? I’m already dead.”

Stiles ran off in the opposite direction of Scott and darted through the trees as the man began to become a speck in the distance. Fortunately for him being a ghost had its advantages, he no longer got tired from running and it wasn’t long before he was catching up to the stranger.

“Hey! Wait up!” Stiles yelled and if it wasn’t for the sound of a growl, he would have sworn the man hadn’t heard him. Then again hearing a growl didn’t confirm that, if anything there could be an animal or something watching him.

His footsteps slowly came to a stop as he broke the tree line and found himself looking up at a house, one that he’d seen before.

Stiles could remember it perfectly. The house had been beautifully built, something the entire town had been in awe of when the Hale family had finished construction in such a short amount of time. However it wasn’t the newly built home he remembered. It was the flames that consumed the building in front of him that was etched into his mind, how they had just seemed to grow and take away a family’s livelihood.

He’d forgotten however the sounds of screaming when he’d watched the building turn to ashes, his mind only having the capacity to remember one horrifying thing, however being here again brought it all back and Stiles eyes dropped to the man who was staring back at him. “You’re a Hale,” he managed to get out. 

“That much is obvious.”

Going through his memories of the first few weeks of being trapped at the school he recalled the conversations had about the Hale’s home. How it had been burnt to a crisp, that the person responsible hadn’t been caught and … there had only been two survivors.

“Derek, Derek Hale.”

The name seemed to trigger something inside Derek as he retreated into the house without another word, apparently that was becoming a habit.

* * *

Stiles should have left when Derek had gone back into his house, there was no reason he should still be stood here when it was beginning to get dark, except his eyes couldn’t leave the house. All he seemed to be doing during the time he stood here was relive memories that he wanted erased from his mind. It would be less painful that way. 

Speaking of people who had been through a lot, Derek emerged from his house and actually seemed surprised to see him.

“What are you—“

“Did you know it was the laughter that hurt the most?” Stiles asked rhetorically as he continued to stare up at the house that couldn’t really be called a home anymore. “When I realized what I was, that it was likely I’d never be seen again, I thought _at least I’d get to see who’d miss me_. I’d suddenly find out that I was actually popular and was one of those people who was appreciated after they were gone.”

The image of people laughing filled his mind and Stiles closed his eyes as he turned his head sideways as if he was trying to block out the scene he rarely remembered. “I waited for someone to say something,” he whispered quietly as he opened his eyes and looked down at his palm where the forest floor could be seen through. “ _Anything_ , just to let me know that they missed me. Except no one did … not a single person in that damn school realized I wasn’t there.”

Derek either didn’t know what to say or decided it was best to just let Stiles talk, because Stiles couldn’t hear anything coming from the man stood in front of this broken building.

“Do you have _any_ idea what it feels like to comprehend the fact that you literally had no impact on anybody’s life? That you could vanish into thin air and life would carry on like nothing happened?” His eyes rose to meet Derek’s and he wondered what the man saw in them that caused him to step forward, “Not a single person missed me.” 

Silence filled the space between them as Stiles tried to gather his emotions and it was only the sound of rain beginning to fall that snapped him out of his past. “Why couldn’t people see you?” Derek suddenly asked and Stiles frowned a little.

“What, you never heard of a ghost before?”

“You’re a ghost.” He didn’t seem to be asking but rather repeating the fact and in the blink of an eye he was standing a few inches from Stiles, his eyes scanning him like that would answer all his questions. “I can see you.” 

“Apparently that’s a thing now,” Stiles teased as he tried to subtly move away from Derek but the man just copied his movements. “Look, I don’t know how you can see me. Until a few days ago nobody could, then Scott did and now apparently you can too.”

He held his breath as Derek leaned in closer and seemed to smell him; something that Stiles was pretty sure wasn’t normal, before taking a step back. Stiles has so many questions, many of which are to do with why Derek could see him, except what came out was, “What are you?”

Derek raised his eyebrow and Stiles picked up that he wasn’t being understood. “You can’t be human, otherwise all those students in school would be able to see me, so I’m guessing you’re something else. Something that Scott has somehow got involved with. Are you part of a cult? Do you practice witchcraft? Or do you-“

“Do you ever shut up?” Derek asked and when Stiles went to reply Derek kept talking, “So it’s only me and this Scott who can see you?”

“Yes, but I’m hoping that more people begin to see me. Like my Dad, it would be great if I could-“

“Scott must have been bitten by an alpha,” he muttered.

“Alpha? Do you mean that Scott’s a wolf?!”

“Werewolf,” he corrected and crossed his arms as he seemed to concentrate on his thoughts. Stiles on the other hand was reeling at the thought of Scott being anything other then human.

Werewolves were real? Something he should have known considering he now knew ghosts were real too, even if he was the only one so far as he could tell. At least now he knew how Scott could suddenly see him, except it did mean that unless this ‘alpha’ bit his Dad then it was unlikely he’d get to talk to him anytime soon.

“How did you know who I was?” Derek suddenly asked and prevented Stiles from thinking about his Dad.

“Everybody in town knows about the Hale fire and considering you’re not a girl, you’d have to be Derek Hale. Where is your sister by the way? Is she inside? Is she a werewolf too? Were your entire family werewolves? To think Beacon Hills had a pack of werewolves without even knowing-" 

“How did anybody _not_ notice you gone when you talk so damn much?” The question hung in the air and Stiles shifted his weight between his feet as he gave a small shrug. It was a good question, how did anybody not notice him missing? “What’s your name?”

 

_The classroom was buzzing with chit chatter as students shared their stories about their latest holiday adventures. If it wasn’t for the teacher walking in they would have surely carried on talking and to be honest the noise was beginning to get to the latest addition to the class._

_“Everyone, we have a new student joining us this term. Please make them feel welcome and help them in any way possible for the next few weeks to get them up to speed with what we’re doing.” The teacher started and everyone turned to look at the student in question._

_“Hey,” the view shifted to the boy in the seat to the right as the class turned back to the face the front and a hand waved in a friendly welcome. “I’m Derek, what’s your name?”_

 

It suffices to say that Stiles was beginning to question every memory inside his head. He thought that when it came down to it that he could recall everything about his life before the fire, that he didn’t need to question those memories, except until now he had had no recollection of meeting Derek before. Apparently Derek couldn’t remember either as he was still waiting for an answer.

Why wouldn’t Derek remember meeting him if they had clearly spoken before? Was he that easily forgotten? It’s not like his appearance had changed and by the looks of it Derek had been near the age he had been around the fire. Then again a traumatic event might have made smaller events like meeting new people be forgotten, but Stiles hadn’t been a new student. Never had been. He had started Beacon Hills from the first year and carried on throughout, there would have been no need to introduce him. So why did he have that memory?

“Something’s not right …” he muttered and Derek tensed as he looked around them for the danger he apparently thought Stiles could sense.

* * *

_“Why is his heart rate increasing?”_

* * *

“You’re disappearing,” Derek pointed out when he turned to look back at Stiles and he looked down at his hand to see the werewolf was right.

* * *

_“Did you change the dosage?”_

* * *

“Can you hear that?” Stiles asked as he pressed a hand to his ear. 

“Hear what?”

* * *

_“What did you do?!”_

_“Who …”_

_“Did you hear that?”_

_“Get things under control, damn it!”_

* * *

When Stiles disappeared from sight this time, he wasn’t the only one who was beginning to question what was going on in this town.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Still getting used to writing for Teen Wolf characters but beginning to get the hang of it. Thanks for all the support so far and I'll try to get the next chapter up quicker this time!


End file.
